Office-directory



(No Model.) I

D. WAIDE. OFFICE DIRECTORY.

Patented Nov. 12, 1895.

V w 7 v ,9 l f A WITNESSES:

ATTORNEYS.

ANDREW {.MANIM. PHOTO-UTNQWASMNBTUN. 01C

UNITED I STATES PATENT OF ICE.

DANIEL IVAIDE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

OFFICE-DIRECTORY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 549,618, dated November 12, 1895.

Application filed January 29, 1895. Serial No. 536,552. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL WVAIDE, of San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented a new and Improved Directory, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improved mechanical directory for use in business buildings or other localities where it may be desired to indicate the location of different persons or things; and the invention consists in certain novel constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a face View of the invention as in use. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of same with the parts supported in position for readjusting or changing the indicator-strips. Fig. 3 is a detail View of one of the indicator-strips. Fig. 4 illustrates the form of retainer-plate used when the directory has several rows of indicator-strips, and Fig. 5 shows a different form of strip.

In carrying out my invention I provide a case A, comprising a box A and a hinged glazed cover A a hook A or other fastening being provided to secure said cover closed.

In this case is hinged at its upper edge I) a carrier-frame B, which may be drawn out at its lower edge and supported at an angle to the case by means of a prop G, which is preferably pivoted at one endto the frame B,near the lower end of the latter and turns down and bears at its opposite end against the box A when it is desired to support the carrierframe at an angle so the indicator-strips will not fall out.

The frame 13 has end cleats B and side cleats B forming within them a depression or pocket, in which the indicator-strips D, head-block E, and wedge F are fitted.

The head-block E is suitably inscribed, as shown, with the words Alphabetical Directory, Floor, and Room, or otherwise, as convenience or taste may suggest.

The indicating-strips may be of wood and are suitably provided with the names and in= dicating-characters and are preferably pointed or tapered at their ends, affording spaces between said strips at their ends to receive a suitable manipulating tool and also facilitating the introduction of the indicatingstrips in proper position between others a lready in the case.

By preference the strips are of wood. or other suitable body (1, upon the face of which I put a yielding base d, such as a strip of cardboard, over which is placed the cloth or paper (1 upon which the names and other characters are printed, the yielding base (1 permitting such letters to be indented, as will be readily understood.

In order to lock the sections and headblock in the frame, I provide a wedge-shaped key F,which may be readily inserted and re moved, and which may be readily inserted and pressed up to tighten the loose parts in the frame.

To withdraw a name from the directory it is onlynecessary to prop the frame out at an angle, withdraw the fastening-plate, remove the wedge, withdraw the strip, and insert the same inverted among the other blank or inverted ones at the bottom of the frame, and one strip may be substituted for another in like manner, the fastening-plates be readjusted, and the case closed, as before.

The fastening-plates H are preferably sheetmetal plates having slots h formed with vertical and horizontalwings and fastening nails or screws passed through said slots into the frame, the slots and screws being so formed relatively that when the screws are adjusted into the vertical wings of the slots the edges of the plate will overlap the ends of the indicating-sections and lock thesame in the frame; but when the screws are adjusted into the horizontal wings of the slots the plates may be set laterally to clear the sections and permit the removal of same.

If desired, several rows of strips may be provided and in such cases the intermediate fastening-plates are provided and preferably formed from a plate of metal bent transversely and having formed in its adjacent edges slots shaped in the form of an inverted letter T, as shownin Fig. 4, fitted to receive the heads of the screws on the frame and adapted to be held by such screws to secure the two adjacent rows of strips or to release either row, as may be desired. It is also obvious that this form of retaining-strip may IOO be used as the side as Well as for intermediate strips.

If desired, instead of the trough-like strip shown in Fig. l the flat metal plate shown in Fig. 5 may be employed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. I11 a directory substantially as described the combination of the carrier frame, the individual indicator sections and the fastening plates movable laterally overlapping or clear of the ends of the indicating sections, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a directory the combination of the carrier frame, the indicator sections, the fastening plates having slots formed with vertical and horizontal wings and movable laterally over and clear of the ends of the sections, and the securing devices in said slots, substantially as set forth.

The combination in a directory of the case, the carrier frame hinged thereto, the prop by which such frame may be held at an angle, the indicator sections held removab] y in said frame, the fastening plateshavin g slots formed with vertical and horizontal wings and the securing devices in said slots, all substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

DANIEL \VAl'D'E.

\Vitnesses:

C. BOLLING, R. C. ROLLING. 

